


That's My Girl

by impudent_strumpet



Series: In The Shadows [5]
Category: Plague Tale: Innocence (Video Game)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst and Feels, Attraction, Beginnings, Bisexual Female Character, Bittersweet Ending, Brother-Sister Relationships, Canon Bisexual Character, Canon Compliant, Canon Dialogue, Canon Era, Canon Lesbian Character, Class Differences, Class Issues, Dialogue Heavy, Early Mornings, Emotional, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fairy Tale Elements, Family, Family Loss, Female Friendship, Female-Centric, First Love, Forbidden Love, Friendship/Love, Goodbyes, Grief/Mourning, Hugging, I Ship It, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Love Confessions, Melicia shippers are thirsty as desert dwellers, Melie is the saddest character in this whole game, Mid-Canon, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Not for me though, One Shot, One of My Favorites, Opposites Attract, POV Third Person, Possessive Behavior, Post-Loss, Promises, Protective Siblings, Protectiveness, Realistic, Rescue, Rescue Missions, Revenge, Romance, Sad, Sadness, Sibling Love, Siblings, Sneaking Out, Team as Family, Teen Romance, That is indisputable, This got real emotional real fast, Tragedy, Tragic Romance, Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 00:11:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20023327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/impudent_strumpet/pseuds/impudent_strumpet
Summary: The beginning and end of Melie's relationship with Amicia.





	That's My Girl

**Author's Note:**

> Thiiiiiiis went places I did not expect. No smut or anything like that (sorry), but it was originally going to be what I imagine went through Melie's mind when she first encountered Amicia, Hugo, and Lucas, then spotlighting that moment before they got to Château d'Ombrage (hence the title)...and it ended up going to all kinds of deep and feelsy places, once I got in my head how their parting went, between Chapters 16 and 17 ^^; REALLY feelsy and kind of sad, I'll warn you.
> 
> And yes, I pretty much verbatim referenced "I thought leaving without saying goodbye wasn't your style" from Valjinic, because I'm 99.99% sure Amicia caught Melie trying to sneak away and said exactly that ^^;
> 
> Drawing by me <3

__

_Shit_ , Mélie chided herself. She hadn't meant for this to happen.  
  
First of all, she hadn't meant for her and Arthur to be caught by the Englishmen, and while robbing from corpses at that. A thief had to be stealthier. Not just for her sake, but her brother's. She had to protect him.  
  
"Where'd you come from? You alone?" the guard demanded of Arthur.  
  
His twin was not about to give that away. When neither of them answered, the guard yelled, "Say something, arsehole!"  
  
"That's my sister, you bastard," Arthur snapped. "Now let us go!"  
  
Mélie was shaking like a leaf, but tried to seem confident. "You'll never see us again, I swear!"  
  
The guard laughed. "Not a chance! Where I come from, we execute looters on the spot!"  
  
The thief girl's blood froze then. It looked like there was no way out...until she had seen the girl and the little boy sneaking by.  
  
"What about them? You're just going to let them go?"  
  
She had _meant_ to point them out only to distract the guard, then knock him out and make her escape with Arthur. She had not meant to rat them out. She figured them to be picking some things up from the corpses to ensure their own lives, just like her and her twin. It felt dirty, of course, stealing from the dead, but the living needed these things more. The girl looked to be Mélie's own age, and the boy just five or six, maybe. _Her brother_ , Mélie knew at once. She just knew. By how the boy clung to his protectress' side, her arm around him and just a flicker of fear in her eyes that was quickly overcome by determination, as fiery as the gladiolus in her hair. By how the girl had run back over to help him when he tripped and an Englishman grabbed hold of him, even at the expense of her own safety, when another hit her over the head and knocked her out cold.  
  
Amicia had been her name.

~

  
  
Part of the plan had worked. The twins had managed to knock down the guard, trying not to draw too much attention to themselves and start to make their escape with the girl, her little brother, and that other boy with them.  
  
But there were more guards all around. There always were, and despite her best efforts, they were caught.  
  
There was not much Mélie could do now. She and Arthur had barely escaped with their own lives. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she was still trembling as she stayed hidden and close to her brother. Her breath was coming out heavy and ragged, but that was what the scarf over her face was for, along with concealing her identity.  
  
"Pssst," she heard from beside her then.  
  
Immediately she drew her dagger...until she saw it was the other boy, who had been with the siblings, his wide eyes now filled with fear. He had to be only about twelve years old. Mélie withdrew her dagger, but kept her guard up.  
  
"What? Who are you?" she whispered.  
  
"I'm Lucas," he replied. "I'm with them." He pointed at the cage that now held the girl named Amicia.  
  
She was still unconscious, lying on her side in the cage, so Mélie could not really see her. That was, until one of the English dogs started banging on the cage.  
  
"Hey! Wakey wakey!" he shouted. "Better eat somethin'. You're lucky, y'know?" He kicked a dish through the bars into the cage as Amicia sat up and stared at him. "Your everyday corpse robber usually gets a sword in the belly, no questions asked..."  
  
The thief girl swallowed a little. That much was true, she knew. She and Arthur risked their lives every time they stole valuable goods from someone, especially a swordsman. But it was that, or starve to death.  
  
"But me..." he continued. "I've got an eye for that fancy jewelry..."  
  
He knelt down for a closer look. As he did, his captive frowned and clutched her pendant in her hand.  
  
_Fancy jewelry, huh..._ The pendant had glinted silver in the sun just before the girl grabbed it.  
  
"And you're lucky I like gold better than blood, Lady de Rune..."  
  
"You see?" Lucas whispered. "She's rich. She and her brother come from an extremely wealthy family. They can pay you to rescue them."  
  
_Lady de Rune...the sigil of her house must be emblazoned on the pendant,_ Mélie figured.  
  
But she was still suspicious. "Then what are they doing here?"  
  
"...It's...a long story," Lucas said.  
  
"Where is my brother?" the girl in the cage demanded, leaning towards the Englishman.  
  
"Shut up," he snapped. "The better you look, the higher the ransom. Might have bruised the goods a bit too much already..."  
  
_She doesn't look bruised much..._ Mélie squinted at her from afar. Even so, bruises faded fairly quickly. It wasn't like she had been mutilated.  
  
But Mélie was not sure if that was a good or bad thing. A sinking feeling settled in her at the thought.  
  
"The ransom? Who's paying it?" the de Rune girl asked.  
  
"You'll see soon enough..." the Englishman replied. "You're not in your château anymore, so cork it, alright?"  
  
"Mangy dog..." Amicia muttered, kicking the bars of her cage.  
  
_We're in agreement there_ , Mélie thought.  
  
The girl _was_ comely, even prettier than other young noblewomen that the thief girl had seen. _Like a princess..._ She wore plain commoner's clothing, like the brown cowl about her shoulders, waistband, belt, and boots. And she was stained with dirt and some small scars. But beneath that she wore an intricately patterned tunic, that only those of noble houses would wear. There was also the silver pendant around her neck, that the Englishman had been coveting... And her hair, most of all, held together in a labyrinth of braids and ribbons winding through it, coming together to form a single braid down her back.  
  
"Please," Lucas pleaded softly, snapping Mélie out of her reverie.  
  
Whether it was the allure of the girl herself or her monetary value, the thief girl did not know. But either way, Lucas did not have to tell her twice. She signaled her brother to free the princess and send her over to his sister to help her escape. He knew exactly what to do, so in sync the twins were, even helping the de Runes escape the bloodthirsty Inquisition.  
  
The thief had been less than pleased when it turned out she had been scammed, that Lucas had been lying through his teeth about the de Rune siblings being able to pay the twins for their rescue. But still, she understood. The de Runes clearly meant something to Lucas, and she could relate to their predicament on some level. She held no ill will for a sister and brother who were just the same as her and Arthur, just trying to slip by with their lives. She was not sure what was worse, being born into the peasantry and having to take from others to survive or so quickly going from riches to rags...but it did not matter. They were the same in orphanhood and destitution.  
  
And it was fun to see the naive, sheltered young noblewoman react whenever the coarse peasant girl japed or cursed in front of her.  
  
_"When I want something, I don't declare it. I take it."  
  
"Yes, but you're a thief. He's a king."  
  
"What's the difference?"_  
  
Perhaps it was the combination of the girl's beauty and grace as a noblewoman and her fierce, cutthroat protectiveness of her brother and Lucas that had drawn Mélie to her. She had never known, never thought, such opposites could coexist. As much as the redheaded peasant girl would give to not be so poor, she found herself scoffing at the nobility. Most ladies would scream and faint if one saw a rat or got a speck of dirt on her gown. This one bore scars and had trekked through hordes of rats and fields of corpses. Mélie had no doubt Amicia had blood on her hands, but only to protect herself and those she loved.  
  
The girl's prowess with her sling, especially, both awed and scared the thief girl. All it took was a well-flung rock to a man's head and he was felled in an instant.  
  
_"That was... Wow... Are you trying to win the war on your own or what?"_  
  
Mélie had staked her claim on the sling-wielding noble by the time Amicia had decided to lead the way to the aqueduct.  
  
_"Come on, then. We've come this far."  
  
"That's my girl."_  
  
The sister of the twins had stolen slightly more in their time on the run than her brother had. Even during her escape from the English camp with the young noblewoman, she raided the shelves for anything and everything she could make some use of. And nothing stopped her. She picked the locks of doors and chests, struck down anyone in her way or made her escape as quick as lightning if she could not. Arthur said she could be proprietary over what she deemed hers, or even desired of another. When she wanted something, she took it.  
  
There had been something about the de Rune girl. The redheaded thief was not sure what, but it did not matter once she had her eyes on something. She took it. Those English dogs were not going to put their filthy paws on her princess. The Inquisition would not shed her blood. When those were the only other options, Melie might as well have thrown the young noble over her shoulder and made off with her. But she would have done that to keep her lady safe. What did it matter if she was a lowly thief? There was no difference between thief and king. Either could have a princess.  
  
And this one was hers. _That's my girl_ , she had decided.

~

  
  
But, in the end...  
  
When she had found her twin brother lying dead there at Château d'Ombrage...she knew her life was well and truly over. She had come into this world with Arthur and been through everything with him. Eventually he was all she had, but all she needed. He had been with her when they ran away from their abusive father, with her through all their raids and thefts, every time they risked their lives, with every step she took. Their bond ran deeper than anything Mélie had ever known.  
  
When she lost him, right away the grief pierced her to the core, like a blade coated in deadly poison. In her rage she swore she would avenge him, suddenly hungering for vengeance more than she had anything else before and unwilling to be starved of it, as if some fiercely determined, ruthless force was driving her.  
  
Yet, after vengeance was hers...still she was empty. What would she do now? She had no more purpose, nothing at all. He had been truly everything to her. She had never thought of just how much he meant. He had been part of her very self, as vital to her as a heartbeat. But he was gone forever now, and she was all alone in the world. Already everything looked so much duller and sadder.  
  
She had held up her end of the deal that she had made with Hugo and freed his mother. Luckily they all had found an inn for the night. But when the lone twin woke up early that morning, before the sun had barely even started to rise, she knew she could not stay. The grief had settled on her now, and was spreading through her like poison in her veins.  
  
"I thought leaving without saying goodbye wasn't your style."  
  
The eldest de Rune child, that she taken as hers, had caught her when she was barely ten steps from the door of the inn.  
  
She turned around and took a few steps toward her. "Amicia...you know I can't stay here."  
  
"Why not?" The noble girl's brown eyes were imploring her.  
  
Mélie smiled sadly. "I think you know the answer to that. You've got your mother and brother back. Now all you need is a new château. You've got your happy ending. There's no place for me in there."  
  
"You still think I'm 'almost royalty,' do you?" Amicia snapped. "This might look like the perfect happily ever after, but if you thought everything would return to normal for us, you are sorely mistaken. We can never go back to what we were before. The Inquisition is still after us, and we have still lost our home. Even noble birth cannot fix that."  
  
"That's right. And my brother is still dead." Mélie's voice trembled. "I can't stay here after that. Everything reminds me of him. He was all I had, and now he's gone."  
  
"You have us!" Amicia protested.  
  
"Oh, please," Mélie scoffed. "Did you really think we could all live in the château together? There's no place for a peasant thief amongst the nobility. I'm sure your lady mother would say so. I would think by now you would know that such fairytales of giants, fire-breathing dragons, honorable knights, and thieves taking princesses are not real."   
  
No longer was Amicia her girl. That had just been a short-lived fantasy. A queen and a mother had much more claim to a princess than a thief, after all.  
  
"My mother is a kind soul," Amicia explained. "I'm sure she would not mind. We will have to lay low anyways. Please, Mélie."  
  
"Amicia, I can't." Mélie looked at the ground. "This is going to sound cruel, but...I can't stand to watch you and your brother. Not after what happened to Arthur. The same day that my brother came back to Château d'Ombrage, yours ran away. Then that Inquisition dog brought him back to you alive...and killed mine. When I got my brother back, you lost yours for what we thought could be forever. But then when you got your brother back, I lost mine for what is really forever. I can't see you and Hugo without envying you and feeling even worse... I'm sorry, Amicia."  
  
Rather than being hurt or insulted, Amicia only felt deeper sympathy for the lone twin. "What will you do, then?"  
  
"I don't know." Mélie looked up. "But that doesn't matter. What matters is you have your family back. Look after them now...better than I looked after Arthur. Perhaps when you are married and make a family of your own, name one of your sons after him. Don't worry about me. Just live your life."  
  
That was when the young noblewoman raced towards the thief girl and threw her arms around her, laying her head between Mélie's neck and shoulder. The thief stood still in confusion for a few moments, but then wrapped her arms tenderly around the noble in turn.  
  
"Will I see you again?" The de Rune girl's voice was shaking as she whispered this, tears rolling down her cheeks and some landing on the redhead's shoulder. "Please say I will. I loved you, Mélie."  
  
"I love you too," the thief girl replied, embracing her princess more tightly. "But I really don't know. Arthur's death...has been so hard for me." She let out a shuddering breath, then pulled back to look Amicia in the eyes and cupped the noble's cheek in her hand, brushing away her tears with her thumb. "Still, even if I don't see you again...I'll always remember you. I'll have that at least... I'll always remember when you were my girl."  
  
Amicia pulled her beloved friend into her arms again, who held her tightly in turn.  
  
"Just promise me you'll live," the thief whispered, running her hands up the noble girl's back. "And that you'll take care of the others."  
  
"I promise, Mélie," Amicia breathed. "Say goodbye to them, alright?"  
  
"I will," Mélie said.  
  
Later that morning, Lady de Rune was still asleep, for what Lucas estimated would be at least a couple more days as she recovered from her ordeal at the Bastion. But Mélie said goodbye to him and Hugo, who hugged her tightly for several seconds before Lucas pried him away. After saying one last goodbye to Amicia, she took one last look at all of them, these people who had seen so much for a family of the nobility.  
  
Lady Béatrice, a woman of such strength and erudition, who had sacrificed all for her beloved children. Lucas, the trainee alchemist who devoted himself to the de Rune siblings, so wise and brave beyond his years. Hugo, the picture of unfading innocence...and the brother who had been allowed to live. And Amicia, the sling-wielding guardian angel and protectress of them all, both lover and fighter, princess and warrior...who had once been her girl.

**Author's Note:**

> As you can tell, not any kind of wish fulfillment fic, since I really don't know if Melie ever sees Amicia again, as much as we all wish she does, and just how I imagine this to have gone. I think Melie herself didn't even know if she would ever reunite with the de Runes, since her grief over Arthur was still fresh and she probably didn't even know what to do at all after that :( I'm not saying she won't ever see Amicia again, I just honestly don't know either way.


End file.
